Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef: Year of Beef

Woohooo! Our first Year of Beef recipe in what seems like forever! Unfortunately, the past couple weeks around here have been a bit crazy, so cooking and writing got put on the back burner (see what I did there?). For the first few days of last week, I was in Boise for board meetings with ICA. They always say “if you don’t use it, ya lose it”, and boy are they right. After three years of not being in an office, sitting in one spot for that long was quite the challenge. I’m pretty sure all my board member counterparts probably refer to me as “Squirmy Sally”! I also spent the three following days in Reno, for the AgChat Foundation’s Western Regional Agvocacy Conference. This is the fourth time I’ve been to an AgChat event, and I definitely recommend all my fellow agriculture friends attend a future event.

As much as I loved getting dressed up every day (something that doesn’t happen much on the ranch), and getting involved in some of my industry’s most important aspects, it sure does feel good to be home. I’m now officially back in the saddle, and ready to whip up some delicious recipes! This week’s recipe was emailed to me by fellow Idaho Cattlewoman, Trish. She and her family ranch in Ellis, Idaho—you might remember seeing her featured as one of our Women in Ag—last November.

During my time in Reno, a fellow planning committee member gave me a box of California-grown products, which included a bag of Lundberg Family Farms Brown Basmati Rice. No Mongolian meal is complete without rice, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs. Brisket, Round Steak, or Flank Steak

¼ c. Cornstarch

1 Tbs. minced garlic

1 Tbs. ground ginger

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. soy sauce

3/4 c. water

2 Tbs. Siracha sauce

2 Tbs. olive oil

Directions:

First things first, take your meat and slice it thinly, across the grain. Don’t know what that is? Meat is made up of long muscle fibers that are laid out parallel to one another. In some muscles, like the loin (think New York strip steak, Ribeye, etc.), that grain is very fine. Meaning, the muscle fiber bundles are thin enough that they don’t form a significant grain. Cuts from these muscles are going to be very tender, no matter how you slice them.

Cuts from harder-working muscles (think about the Brisket or Round areas from the diagram) are going to have thicker muscle fiber bundles, with a noticeable grain. If you slice WITH the grain, you’ll end up with pieces of meat that are difficult to chew, aka not tender. But if you slice against the grain, you’ll be breaking those muscle fibers into smaller sections, which helps to add that tender aspect we all love. In the Brisket I used, you can see just how visible these muscle fiber bundles are.

Next you’re going to put your meat in a gallon-sized bag, add the ¼ c. cornstarch and shake until the meat is covered. You can set aside this bag aside while you add the rest of the ingredients into your slow cooker. Once you’ve got everything in, finish off by adding your meat.

Your cooking options are setting your slow cooker on High for 2-3 hours, or setting it on Low for 5-6 hours. As mentioned earlier, I paired this meal with a side of rice; a move that I definitely recommend! I actually added about two tablespoons of my slow cooker mixture to my water/rice combo before cooking, and it really helped to give it that extra little bit of flavor.